Life had gone back to normal after her date with Dante. Go to work, come home, cook, maybe read or draw, go to sleep, repeat. Despite the fact that things had clearly gone slower than Dante would have liked, Zoe had thought that things had gone well. And he said that he would call her after she had written her number on his hand.

But he hadn’t called. And she hadn’t seen him playing his guitar in the park on her way home again. Sure, she knew where he lived, but if he wasn’t calling, Zoe realized he must have changed his mind. She didn’t really think that he would have said it simply to be nice or spare her feelings, but maybe he decided that she wasn’t worth the call. And Zoe had had enough guys over the year decide that she was too ‘weird’, and had changed their minds about being interested in her. If he had changed his mind, which Zoe supposed he must have since he hadn’t called, it would just be awkward for her to show up at his apartment.

However, that day had been rather strange and unusual. Well, in the zebra enclosure, the day had been pretty typical. However, mid morning there had been a call that came in saying that one of the small monkeys that were brought out of their enclosures for demonstrations had gotten loose. That had caused things to kind of go crazy around the zoo while staff were pulled from all over to look for the escaped animal.

Which was just lovely, because Zoe was supposed to be having lunch with Emma that day, but she was likely going to have to shorten her lunch break to cover for the staff that had been pulled from her enclosure that day. At least if the monkey wasn’t found soon.

And, when Zoe walked out to the area around the zebra enclosure that guests were able to access, there still had been no word on the monkey. So Zoe made her way out to the main path to wait for Emma.

Emma was walking through Central Park, wearing her usual jeans, band shirt, and boots. She was meeting Zoe for lunch today and was looking at GPS to find the shortest route there. She was surprisingly happy to see that the way included walking through Central Park.

She always loved coming to the park. It was always so nice and spacious, unlike walking down the sidewalks in the rest of the city. People were always bumping into you and were rude. Most of the time, Emma had to restrain herself from just up and bestowing people some days. Though it's not like she'd affect many people. She could only hold 2 powers and the only one she had at the moment was a dog shifting mutation. That seemed too cool to pass on to someone who just ticked her off in passing.

Emma finished walking through Central Park and followed the directions she looked up. She had decided to come early so she could actually lookbat exhibits and walk around until it was time to meet Zoe for lunch. She finally made it to the zoo and purchased her admissions ticket. She hadn't been to the zoo here before so she took her time and walked around. She knew Zoe worked with the zebras so she decided to look at that exhibit last.

She saw the elephants and lions and all the ones from the African Exhibit. She particularly liked watching the little meerkats play. They were quite entertaining and reminded her of that one Tisney movie that she was fond of growing up. Then she went and saw the penguins and saw some otters too. Those were her favorites. She saw an area where the reptiles were house and she skipped those entirely.

Finally, Emma realized it was close to time for meeting Zoe so she wandered over to the zebra enclosure. She watched them for a while and then went to meet Zoe.

It really didn’t take long once Zoe was outside of the enclosure for her to catch sight of Emma. She was waiting right where they had agreed to meet. Smiling, Zoe walked up to the other woman. If she was going to have to head back early from lunch, as was seeming likely since the monkey hadn’t been caught as of a few minutes ago when she had left the enclosure office.

”Are you ready for lunch?” Zoe asked as she came up in front of Emma. ”There’s been some issues around here today, and I’d like to make sure that I get to eat if I need to head back to work early.”

Emma waved as she saw Zoe heading over. The zoo care takers did seem to be a bit on edge. It seemed like some were trying to keep their cool, but were failing to do so. Every now and then you would see one take off fairly quickly and some looking around in places pretty hard. So Emma assumed that an animal must have gotten loose. It was only thing she could think of to explain the care takers behavior.

When Zoe asked if Emma was ready for lunch, Emma nodded and said, "Sure where did ya wanna eat today? I'm starving. So anywhere is fine with me. I hope your day has been going well. So what kind of animal got loose? Everyone seems so on edge. Hopefully not a snake or reptile. Only thing worse than those would be a monkey of some kind. Those would be the hardest to catch, I think. "

Emma walked along the path with Zoe and told her about getting to walk around and see some of the exhibits. She told her which ones she visited and then asked, "Which ones should I see when we come back from lunch?"

Slowly, it seemed like Emma was actually making some friends. This reminded Emma that she had given Zoe her Mom's tomato sauce recipe. She always meant to ask about that when they talked, but always seemed to forget. "So have you gotten to try your hand at my Mom's tomato sauce? What did ya think about it?", Emma asked, excitedly.

Zoe shrugged when Emma asked where she would like to eat. She really hadn’t thought about that part much, she had been more than a little distracted that day. But still, Zoe started walking in the direction of the food pavilions even as Emma continued to speak. And Zoe’s eyes shot to Emma when she asked what animal had gotten loose.

How could the other woman know, Zoe wondered. But that was answered a moment later as Emma continued. And, she was even able to guess what had gotten loose.”And that's why we've been looking for 3 hours,” Zoe said , not print confirming that an animal had gotten loose, but clearly not denying it, either.

Then Emma was telling her what she had seen already that day, and asking Zoe what else she should see after lunch. Zoe thought for a moment as they walked. ”The wolves are definitely interesting,” Zoe said, though maybe she just thought that because she ended up with a friendly wolf in her apartment on occasion. ”And the polar bears.”

The tomato sauce? Right! ”I have! It was great! Thank you again for giving me the recipe.

“How about pitas?” Zoe asked, glancing over at Emma as they came up to the food pavilion.

Emma could see that Zoe was surprised that Emma could tell something was off at the zoo. She had been to other zoos before and usually the environments were about the same. Emma had just never visited this particular one before and the envirinment seemed much more tense today.

Zoe didn't say what animal had gotten loose, just that they had been looking for 3 hours. "Well hopefully, they will find it soon. Maybe it won't attack anybody and will just find some nice spot to nap in. Though, I really hope it's not a reptile. I'm not too fond of those.", Emma said.

Then Zoe told her about the wolves and polar bears and Emma said excitedly, "How did I forget to see those? I love wolves. They are so beautiful. And the polar bears are really neat too. What's your favorite exhibit, other than the zebras? I know you must be pretty partial to them, considering you work with them so much. Do you have a favorite zebra in your enclosure?"

Emma followed Zoe over to the food pavillion and was looking at all the different vendors around. It smelled so good. Emma could probably live in the food pavillion and be completely happy. There was so much to choose from. Zoe suggested pitas and Emma agreed happily, "Pitas sound great. Plus, they smell amazing. And I'm glad you really liked the sauce. We'll have to swap some more recipes. I'm sure there are some that you have that I'd love to try."

"I'm sure that it'll work out well," Zoe said, though she made sure to keep her voice low, so that only Emma would be able to hear her. She was still in her zoo uniform, and there were enough people around that she wouldn't want word of the escape to get out more than it already had. "They haven't shut down, and they don't have every employee on the hunt, so it'll probably take a bit of time, but I'm sure that they'll find it."

But what was her favourite animal at the zoo, other than her zebras, of course? "Probably wolves," Zoe said before she had really stopped to think about it. That wasn't entirely true, though. Yes, at the moment her favourite zoo animal to see was a wolf, but it wasn't a wolf in the zoo. She had recently sketched him in her living room. But that wasn't exactly something that she could tell Emma.

"I think it depends on the day. I mean, they all have their own personalities and moods, so it can change day to day," Zoe explained. Then she shrugged. "But there is one three year old who's got a sense of humour. Well, for a zebra, anyway. He's normally pretty entertaining to watch."

By this point, they had made it to the food pavilion, and Emma said that pitas sounded good. Sure, there were other things that smelled good, such as pizza, but they weren't as good for you. Not that the pitas she could buy here were all that healthy, but they had to be better than pizza and fries. "Yeah, we can swap more recipes," Zoe said as they walked over to the pita vendor. "Maybe one night next week you could come over and we can take a look through my recipes."

Emma grabbed her pita order and waited for Zoe to get hers before finding somewhere to sit and eat their lunch. Emma also grabbed an order of fries from a nearby stand as well. She then returned to the table that Zoe had picked. Emma nodded and said to Zoe in a hushed voice, "Well, I hope that they catch it soon."

Emma thought about other animals to see as well since the wolves were already a must see. Emma decided she would go look at the birds, see Zoe's little zebra with a humour, and then go loo at a map to find what else she could see. Emma laughed at Zoe's joke about the little 3 year old zebra. "Maybe you could point out the little one when we go back to your enclosure. Though I do kind of wonder what kind of humour a zebra would have.", Emma said.

Emma ate on her pita some and offered to share her order of fries with Zoe. Emma smiled and excitedly said, "I would love to come over and look through recipes with you. Maybe we could find one to try for dinner or something. What's your favorite recipe that you have?"

Emma then asked, "So what else do you like to do besides cooking, Zoe?" Then Emma had a great idea, "Ya know it would be really cool if we could get friends together and play some board games and have a party or something if that sounds like something you might like and isn't a totally lame idea."

It didn’t take long to get food and to sit down at an empty table. A table which it took Emma longer to get to than it had Zoe, so while she waited, Zoe started in on her food. Only to start hearing the chattering of chipmunks behind her a few moments later. Asking, begging for peanuts. Once again, Zoe wished she had never fed the small animals around the zoo. She saw them literally every day, and now this was almost all that they ever said to her. As if they couldn’t easily find enough food from all the other people who were at the zoo on a daily basis.

”Go on, shoo,” Zoe said, turning to speak to the chipmunks, hoping to do so before Emma reached the table. ”I don’t have any food for you today.”

As she turned back to the pita in her hand, Zoe noticed that she hadn’t quite succeeded as Emma had just reached the chair on the other side of the table. All Zoe could hope for was that Emma wouldn’t have heard her.

Though, Zoe realized, maybe that wouldn’t matter either way since Emma questioned how she’d mentioned that the 3 year old zebra had a sense of humour. Even though she had tried to cover it as an afterthought. ”He’s really not all that little,” Zoe explained. ”He’s practically a full grown adult. But he likes showing off for the ladies, and tends to make a bit of a fool of himself.”

Zoe thought for a few moments as she ate after Emma’s question. What was her favourite recipe? She had ones that she liked, and ones that she didn’t, but she didn’t really think of herself as having a favourite. ”I’m making chicken parmesan almost weekly,” Zoe replied with a shrug. ”Not even as a routine or anything, I’ll just randomly decide I want that for dinner, so make it.

“And that sounds fun,” Zoe continued with a smile across the table at Emma. ”Though I’m not sure how many friends I could bring to the table. Most of my friends from college have moved out of the city, and I haven’t made all that many new ones since.”

When Emma sat down, she noticed that Zoe was talking to the chipmunks. She noticed that the chipmunks were looking for food and weren't scared of humans, so they must come here often. "Have you fed them before? Or are they just looking for someone to give them some food?", Emma asked as she tossed them a couple fries from her basket.

Emma laughed as Zoe described the little zebras meaning of humour. Then, Zoe and Emma started talking about food dishes. Zoe mentioned cooking chicken parmesan often and Emma smiled. "Chicken parmesan is always really good. I've found that I roast chicken with some cajun seasonings and roasted vegetables a good bit now. It's really good.", Emma commented. She ate some more on her pita and ate a few fries here and there.

Emma's face perked up when she heard that Zoe liked her idea. "We don't have to have many people to play. If each of us brings a friend, then that's 4 people. Most board games require a minimum of 3 people to play. Another plus side to having just a couple friends over is that it we will be comfortable the whole time together in the apartment, instead of ending up crowded. And dinner will be easy to cook for when its just a few people.You really like the idea? Would you wanna have it at your apartment?", Emma asked.

Zoe nodded when Emma asked if she’d fed the chipmunks here before. ”Yeah, I toss them a few peanuts almost daily,” She explained. ”I’ve got a container full of them in my locker, actually. But I didn’t grab any before I came out to meet you.” She gave a slight shrug, then saw Emma tossing some fries to the chipmunks and shook her head a bit. ”Those aren’t good for them, you know,” she told the other woman softly.

Then Zoe nodded as she listened to the chicken dish that Emma was making more often now. That did sound good.

Just bring one friend each? Four people for dinner, and for a game, did sound far more reasonable, though that still left Zoe questioning who to bring. Maybe her friend Charlotte, though she was busy quite often between work and her boyfriend. Jay was another option, though Zoe really wasn’t sure how he’d feel about a quiet games night in.

”Yeah, I do like the idea,” Zoe said when she finished eating the bite she had taken. ”It sounds like it’d be fun. And sure, we could do it at my place. It’s a little on the small side, but it’d easily fit four people. Do you have any games that you could bring?”

Emma responded, when being told the fries werent good for the chipmunks, by saying, "Yeah, I guess that wasn't such a good idea, but I'm pretty sure other people have given them people food too. I won't toss any more to them and next time, I'll bring some peanuts or remind you to grab some before we have lunch again."

Emma ate more on her pita and fries. She smiled when Zoe thought her idea was really good and nodded her head when asked about games to bring. Since Emma and her Mom spent quite a bit of time moving from place to place after leaving her Dad in Washington, they had picked up board games and card games to keep them entertained since watching tv all the time grew to be quite boring.

Emma had quite a few games that they now kept in the top of her closet. She brought them down every now and then still to play with her Mom. Emma thought for a moment, trying to remember them all. Then, she listed them off, "I have a couple decks of cards, checkers, chess, one, phase 11, Rich Old Guy, Apology, Poppycock, Oranges to Oranges, Angry Talk, and Cards against Society."

Emma ate more on her lunch as she waited to see if any of them sounded good to Zoe for the game night.

Emma actually acknowledged that the fries probably weren't good for the chipmunks, and even said that the next time they had lunch here, that she would bring peanuts for the rodents. Or, at least, remind Zoe to grab some from her locker. Zoe couldn't help the small smile as she looked across at the woman who was quickly becoming a good friend. Most people weren't overly concerned about what was 'good' for the animals unless they were scientists or otherwise worked with animals. And sometimes even then, they weren't worried about it. Though Emma was right, there were a lot of people both in the zoo and in the rest of the park, that had given the squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, and other animals a fair bit of food that wasn't good for them.

"You're likely right," Zoe admitted. "But at the same time, the less that they're given to eat that isn't good for them, the better, right?"

Then Emma was listing off the games that she had, Zoe couldn't help but feel that she was failing in the friends department all these years. All that she had along those lines was a deck of cards; there was no reason to spend money on board games when you had no one to play them with, after all.

"I've heard that Cards Against Society is really good," she said after a few moments thought. "To be honest, I've been wanting to try playing it for a while now, so let's start with that one."

Emma smiled and told Zoe, "It's a really fun game to play. I've played it a few times with Mom, but I haven't ever really had friends to get together and play with. We moved around too much for that to really happen. Though to be honest, I'm glad we've stopped moving and finally settled here. I can actually sorta have a life now."

Emma finished her fries and pita. She sat back in her chair, relaxing and full. Then she mentioned to Zoe, "I don't know who you'd have to talk to about it, but maybe you could suggest to management that it would be a good idea to put stations around the park with peanuts or a food for the ducks, squirrels, and chipmunks. You could probably make it from like a quarter machine and it would turn a profit and provide a healthy diet for the animals. Maybe they would think it's a good idea."

Emma watched the chipmunks a little. And then she laughed a little as she thought about a childhood game that would be even funnier to play as an adult. She told Zoe, " Ya know, I could probably even find The Color Dot game to bring too. I imagine it would probably be even more fun to play now than it was as kids. Especially if you play it with some really pretty guys and girls, if you know what I mean." Emma smirked. Then she kinda wondered if Jack would be able to play a game like that in her normal mantis shrimp form or if another human form shift would be necessary. Then her thoughts turned to bit more naughty, but still involved playing that game. Just the two of them.

And it was in that moment that Emma was glad that Zoe couldn't read her mind.